


Thank You

by kanoitrace



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Coda, Gen, c2 e10, jestermauk if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-18 18:58:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16522769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanoitrace/pseuds/kanoitrace
Summary: Yasha has absconded yet again. Which is fine, totally fine. Molly doesn’t necessarily need her around just because his other adventuring companions have found out about his deepest, darkest secret.A small moment between Jester and Molly in the aftermath of the group meeting Cree.





	Thank You

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my computer for quite awhile (aka not long after the episode aired) , but I am finally feeling confident enough to share it. So here, my meager contribution to the fandom with some super low-key jestermauk that can totally be read as just friend fic.

The weather is miserable - thunder claps and torrential rains accompanied by violent, howling winds that slap detritus against the windows of the inn that the MIghty Nein are staying at - which likely means Yasha has absconded yet again. Which is fine, totally fine. Molly doesn’t necessarily need her around just because his other adventuring companions have found out about his deepest, darkest secret. He is perfectly fine all on his own, thank you very much. It’s just nice to have her around is all.

 

Molly stares into his drink. It’s some gods awful ale that tastes like it’s been brewed in a barrel full of balloon rat piss. The brewing families of Trostenwald would be appalled that this is served anywhere in Wildemount, but it serves Molly just fine. He has no need for finery or fancy things. Rat piss ale is just fine by him. He takes a swig just to emphasize the point. It gets the job done, and that’s what matters.

 

“Did you go out of the way to order that?”

 

Molly doesn’t quite jump, but he can’t control the twitch that comes from being taken off guard. He glances to his right to find Jester sitting precariously on the stool beside him.

 

“With all this money coming, I’ve got to remind myself of my roots somehow.”

 

Jester wrinkles her nose cutely. “It isn’t that much money.” Then, so suddenly that Molly isn’t sure just how she manages to not topple her chair, she turns her attention to the barkeep, calling out, “I will also have one of the stinky beers! Please! Thank you!”

 

Molly doesn’t bother to hide his smile when the man responds with a gruff grunt, clearly unimpressed with her phrasing but not about to turn away coin.

 

As she settles back down into her seat, Jester muses, “I wonder if it smells as bad as Caleb.”

 

Molly chuckles but shakes his head, saying, “You really shouldn’t give him such a hard time. I don’t think he smells all that bad.”

 

“You lived with a travelling circus,” she deadpans. “A circus with a fiend frog. I do not think you are technically the best judge of smell, technically.”

 

He has to laugh at that. “Fair enough!” He throws back another swig of his drink just as Jester’s is placed down in front of her by a very unimpressed looking bartender.

 

“Thank you!” she calls after the bartender as he stalks away, grumbling all the more for her exuberance.

 

Her effervescence is calming - very different from Yasha’s stoicism, but similar in its effect on his.

 

They sit for a time in silence, enjoying their drinks, or at least enjoying them as much as can possibly be expected given their quality. It’s nice, and for a moment, Molly forgets everything outside of the sound of the rain beyond the walls, the soft din of the few other people in the tavern, and the comfort of the tiefling beside him.

 

“I am a good listener you know.” Jester says it so softly that at first Molly almost thinks he imagined it, but when he looks to his right, she’s staring at him too intently for it to have been a figment of his imagination.

 

“Beg you pardon?”

 

“It’s just, I know I talk a lot, but it is only because there are so many people to talk to! But I am a very good listener! I listened to the Traveler all the time back home, and also to the people who spent time with my mother.”

 

“I think that last part is more considered eavesdropping than listening, but I’m certainly not judging. I’d eavesdrop, too!”

 

“My point is,” she trudges on, “is that if you want to talk about anything, I will be good at listening to it.”

 

Were it anyone else, Molly probably would have brushed the offer off or given some snarky come back about how there’s obviously nothing to talk about, but Jester is far too earnest to deserve either of those options.

 

He isn’t sure that he’ll taken her up on that offer, but he appreciates it all the same, so all he says is, “Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kanoitrace), [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/kanoitrace), and to a far lesser extent [Tumblr](http://kanoitrace.tumblr.com/).


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